Fever
by Mentally-Unstable
Summary: The so called "normal" lives of the Fantastic Four are about to be capsized, when Reed's involved in a deadly accident that unleashes hell upon Manhattan, Victor goes schizophrenic "good guy/bad guy", and personal relationships get tricky.


**Fandom**: Fantastic Four(Movieverse, with comic book influences to keep it real)

**Title**: Fever

**Rating:** R

**Genre:** Drama/Romance/Sci-Fi

**Summary**: The so called "normal" lives of the Fantastic Four are about to get capsized, when Reed's involved in a deadly accident that unleashes hell upon Manhattan, Victor goes schizophrenic "good guy/bad guy", and personal relationships get tricky. Sue/Reed, Ben/Alicia, implied Sue/Victor, Johnny/OC, and possible Johnny/OC/Victor.

**xxx**

**Chapter One**

**"Boom"**

"Calm down Egghead, we ain't gonna be late." Ben Grimm grumbled from the passenger's seat as he eyed the driver warily, "We will be if you get in a car accident."

"My driving is fine-it's everyone else who doesn't know what they're doing!" Reed Richards gripped the steering wheel tightly, but shot Ben a sideways look and a half grin to let him know he was just being silly. "I'm fine, Ben, I just don't want to be late to my own presentation."

I still don't see why we couldn't sneak the Fantasticar out...just once.

Reed thought with a small smile, but knew he would be thankful later that he hadn't. His wife, Sue, had instituted a strict "no Fantasticar outside of superhero usage" rule after he and Johnny had accumulated quite a few speeding tickets during joyrides or even simple trips to the grocery store. Over a thousand dollars, actually-for each of them.

Reed was scheduled to give a lecture to a roomful of physics majors at Manhattan U, who had all, several weeks ago, recieved copies of the book he'd somehow managed to find the time to write during his busy schedule. It hadn't been released to the general public yet, and he was anxious to see what bright and ambitious young people thought of it. The lecture started in thirty minutes, but from the looks of the traffic before him, he'd be sitting on the Brooklyn Bridge for atleast another forty-five.

"Come _on!_" Reed yelled, and let out a groan of frustration.

Before Ben could try and persuede his best friend to calm the hell down, Reed's cell phone began ringing loudly from his satchel. Reed fumbled mindlessly for it for several moments before finally reaching it in the bottom and answering it, "Hello?"

"_Traffic's bad, huh?"_ The beautiful voice belonged to his wife, and it immediately brought a smile to his face.

"Yeah, it's horrible." Reed sighed into the phone, then frowned deeply, "How did you know?"

"Well, it's New York, Reed. But besides that, you might wanna look up."

Still frowning, Reed rolled down the window and stretched his entire upper body out through it, looking up just as the Fantasticar matieralised above the traffic, Sue at the wheel. "_Thought you might need a lift. And I'm allowed the break my own rule."_ Sue winked at him then hung up the phone, and Reed grinned broadly.

"I'll take the wheel." Ben called as Reed waved to him before stretching up all the way to get into the passenger's seat of the Fantasticar.

"Ready?" Sue asked cheerily.

Reed smiled and leaned over to kiss her softly on the lips, "I love you."

**xxx**

"Wow, that's alot of people."

Sensing her husband's growing nervousness at the crowd pouring into the auditorium, Sue Storm stepped over and slipped her arm through Reed's and hugged herself close to him, "You're gonna do great."

"Public speaking's never really been my thing." Reed mumbled nervously, and Sue rolled her eyes playfully.

"Public speaking isn't anyone's thing." Sue sighed, "I remember when you had to give that speech at MIT and you puked the whole way to the podium..."

"Ok!" Reed held his hand up in the air and shook his head, "I don't need to remember that _at all_!"

Sue giggled softly, "Yes you do, so you know not to do it again!" She pulled away and looked up into his eyes, "You should be excited. I mean, there's a ton of college kids out there who are gonna start screaming your name like you're a rockstar when you go out there. They don't wanna see you puke. They wanna hear what you have to say about the string theory and what it feels like to stretch across Manhattan."

Reed laughed and nodded softly, "You're right, as always." He smiled down at her, "Thanks."

"No problem. And I wish I could stay, but I have to go pick Johnny up across town-I'm taking him shopping."

Reed raised an eyebrow, "Shopping?"

Sue eyed him cautiously, "Yes, shopping. We haven't been able to spend much time together in a long time and I thought we could spend the day out just shopping, eating, and maybe catching a movie."

"That sounds fun." He frowned, "Why wasn't I invited?"

"Cos you have school." Sue grinned and kissed him on the cheek, "I gotta go. Good luck, honey."

"Love you."

"Love you, too."

xxx

Pros-tall, svelte, accented, drop dead gorgeous.

Cons-she's buying extra strength anti-bacterial cream and latex gloves.

Solution: Flash a smile, but don't chance it.

Johnny Storm stood in line at a crowded Waldbaum's pharmacy, where he had been waiting patiently for the past twenty minutes. Alicia had called Ben, who was stuck in traffic and called Johnny to ask him to pick up Alicia's eyedrops. Johnny wasn't sure why a blind lady needed eyedrops, but he didn't feel like having a "foot in mouth" scenario and happened to be in the city anyway so he agreed and here he was, staring mindlessly at a tv mounted in the corner that was stuck on CNN.

He'd texted Sue and let her know where he was in case she wanted to meet here instead of the spot they had originally intended to meet. While he really wasn't crazy about spending the day as a mallrat, he'd agreed to the excursioun simply because he had missed his sister as of late and was immensely relieved when she'd come up with this idea. He wasn't exactly sure why-after all, he saw Sue every single day. He lived in the same apartment with her. But between being superheroes and being married to Reed, and Johnny's extensively busy social life, there was hardly any time for them to be brother and sister anymore. He missed her.

He didn't tell her that, of course...but it was true.

"Johnny!"

Johnny turned around to see Sue pushing her way through the small crowd that was gathered around the pharmacy. He nodded and waved her over, glad to see a familiar face in the boring crowd. "Hey Sue," Johnny frowned as she stepped up beside him, "You got here fast."

"I drove the car." Sue grinned, and Johnny gaped at her.

"How come you get to drive the car?"

"Cos I'm not a speed demon." Sue punched him playfully in the arm and then sighed, "So what's taking so long?"

"I dunno. Apparantly everyone in East Manhattan decided to get their medicine filled at the same pharmacy on the same day."

Sue crossed her arms over her chest and sighed impatiently, tapping her foot rythmically against the floor, "Wanna go thumb through the magazines and not buy any?"

"Yes!" Johnny grinned and turned to follow her, when the sound on the television caught his attention. _...explosion rocked the campus of Manhattan University. Details are scarce as firefighters are fighting to put out the fire, and one question is on all our minds at the moment: what about the people inside?_

The siblings eyes met in a split second as one word echoed between them. _"Reed."_


End file.
